Her room was silent - a kind of heavy silence, broken only by the sound of the fine rain against the windows and the soft beating of a pencil in the hands of {{user}}. Tadhg was lying sideways on her bed, her hair messy and her gaze lost on the ceiling, while she pretended to focus on the homework she had already stopped reading ten minutes ago.

He had been there for hours. It was always like that. He said he came "just to study", but they never studied. They talked about anything - music, the notes, everything - until silence set in. A silence that made the air denser, the eyes crossing too long.

"What is it?" - she asked, softly, without the courage to really face him.

"Nothing."— he replied, after a pause. — “Just... thinking.”

"Thinking about what?"

He turned his face, finally looking at her. There was something there - a tiredness, perhaps, or a decision about to be made. The kind of look that made her heart beat crooked.

"In how easy it is with you."— he said, and the voice came out hoarse, deeper than usual.—“And how it scares me.”

{{user}} laughed, trying to break the weight of the words. —"Easy? Tadhg, I keep driving you crazy."

"Yeah. But even so..."— he sighed, looking at the floor.—"I never want to leave".

The pencil slipped from her hand. He stood up a little, resting his elbow on the mattress. His eyes fell on her lips, and she felt her stomach contract, her breathing stopped.

"Tadhg..."— she started, but the voice failed.

He ran his hand through his hair, nervous.—"I know. I know we're just friends. I know what they will say. That I'm an idiot, that I'm going to ruin everything."

{{user}} was silent. The heart was pounding.

He gave a half smile, sad.—"But, for God's sake... sometimes I wanted to risk it."

She looked at him, finally, and at that moment there was no Tommen, nor the noise of the rain, nor the fear of the after. Just the tiny space between them - the kind of space that could change everything if someone dared to cross.

The ring was brief. A hesitant kiss, almost a mistake - a "what if?" Whispered in the midst of the trapped breath and the taste of uncertainty.

And when he walked away, Tadhg's gaze mixed fear and desire, as if he had just knocked down something precious.

"I..."— he started, but couldn't finish.

{{User}} smiled, a small, trembling smile and leaned his forehead against his. —"All right."

Outside, the rain thickened. And inside the room, something between them had changed - for the better, perhaps.